Ruben Dias will miss Manchester City’s next two matches after sustaining a muscle injury. John Stones is also doubtful for this week’s Champions League trip to Sporting.
Both Stones and Dias were absent from the squad against Bournemouth, with Guardiola cryptically mentioning before the game that the pair would be out “for a little bit of a long time.”
This suggests Stones is expected back after the international break, while Dias remains sidelined with a plantar fasciitis issue that kept him out of the Bournemouth trip.
As a result, Guardiola opted to bring Kyle Walker back following his own health struggles—making his first appearance since the international break—while Nathan Ake pushed through discomfort at Vitality Stadium.
Ake appeared to struggle, needing a second-half substitution, after which he limped off toward the tunnel, adding to the ongoing challenges at Etihad.
Guardiola had also welcomed back Walker, Jeremy Doku, and Kevin De Bruyne sooner than anticipated, although De Bruyne was unused at Bournemouth.
“We have players with rhythm, but others are still lacking it,” Guardiola noted. “Players are returning from injuries, and we were aware of this.”
He added, “Ruben will be out until the international break. Manu [Akanji] and Nathan are working hard to stay fit, while Kyle hadn’t trained with us for 18 days but was out there today. Rico [Lewis] played a lot of minutes and was feeling tired.”
“That’s the position we’re in—we tried to manage minutes against Spurs to be fresher here, but it didn’t fully work, as they were still off the pace today.”
Before the match, Guardiola encouraged his players to push through pain and made a last-minute call to start Ake at his former club.
“Manu and Nathan weren’t fully fit. I didn’t know if Nathan could play until the last moment,” said the manager.
“He said, ‘No, I want to try.’ After going 2-0, I decided not to put further strain on him. We’ll need him for next Tuesday. Some seasons, these situations happen more frequently than others. We’re managing it, and the squad is coming back together. Sooner or later, the team will be whole again.”
Jack Grealish remains sidelined, while Ake, Akanji, and Stones will be assessed ahead of the Champions League trip to Sporting.
